Psychological Obsolescence and Subjective Remaining Life Expectancy are Predictors of Generativity in a Six-Year Longitudinal Study

Abstract

In this research, we explore associations between (changes in) perceived generativity, subjective remaining life expectancy (SRLE), and psychological obsolescence in a longitudinal sample. We hypothesized a higher SRLE and a weaker obsolescence would be concomitants of higher perceived generativity. We also hypothesized that generativity would exhibit intraindividual fluctuation over time, which should relate to intraindividual fluctuation in the respective concomitants. Using multilevel modeling, several concomitants of generativity were investigated. The sample consisted of 518 German participants (aged 18–88 years) who took part in at least two of four measurement waves of the Ageing-as-Future online study spanning over 6 years. There was no mean-level increase or decrease in generativity over the 6-year study period. Despite this absence of linear time trends, individual perceived generativity still fluctuated considerably over time. The model showed that higher individual average SRLE and lower individual average psychological obsolescence resulted in higher average perceived generativity. Individual fluctuations in those constructs coincided likewise, implying that when individual SRLE increased and individual obsolescence decreased between two time points, perceived generativity tended to increase as well. There were significant quadratic, but no linear age effects. The findings suggest that perceived generativity depends not only on chronological age but several other time-related factors. Based on such results, we discuss implications for interventions and future research.